By bus
$369
Four nights in Philadelphia, on a bus ticket and a dorm bed.
New York City to Philadelphia, 4 nights. Here is where every dollar goes.
| Bus, round tripFlixBus runs this route from about $15 each way. $40 is the number to plan on if you are not booking months out. | $40 |
| Hostel, 4 nightsA dorm bed, not a private room. $55 a night is the figure to budget; it drops midweek and off season. | $220 |
| Food, 5 days$20 a day. Realistic if you use the hostel kitchen for breakfast and eat one sit-down meal a day, not three. | $100 |
| Transit and the odd ticket | $9 |
| Total | $369 |
Where the 4 nights go
Apple Hostels of Philadelphia
Old City, 33 S Bank Street. About $55 a night for a dorm bed.
It is the one hostel actually downtown, which matters more than the nightly rate. Aggregator listings advertising $8 and $15 beds in Philadelphia are in West Fairmount Park and further out, and the transit fare plus the time gets you back to level.
What costs nothing
- +The Liberty Bell. No ticket, no charge, just a queue.
- +Independence Hall, which needs a timed entry ticket that costs nothing.
- +The Rocky steps at the Museum of Art, free from the outside, which is the part anybody came for.
- +Walking Old City, which is dense enough that you do not need transit for most of a day.
When this number is true
Every budget like this rests on assumptions. These are ours, written down instead of left out. Prices checked September 2026, and they move.
- ·Prices are for a dorm bed in a mixed dorm, midweek, outside a holiday.
- ·The bus fare assumes you book a week or two ahead. Same-day fares on this route can triple.
- ·This is four nights, five days, counting the travel days as half days each.
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